ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 158
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| Date: | Sunday 1 March 1998 |
| Time: | 14:06 |
| Type: |  Air Tractor AT-802A |
| Owner/operator: | |
| Registration: | VH-ODL |
| MSN: | 802A-0056 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1997 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Mt Gambier Airport, Mt Gambier, SA -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Fire fighting |
| Departure airport: | Mt Gambier Airport YMTG |
| YMTG | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot of the Air Tractor 802A (AT-802A) was scheduled to demonstrate the fire-fighting capabilities of the aircraft at the Mount Gambier airshow. After becoming airborne the pilot positioned the aircraft for the first pass of the crowd. This pass was made at a height of approximately 100 ft in a north easterly direction and overhead the runway that was being used as the display axis for the airshow.
The pilot then confirmed by radio to the airshow coordinator that he was starting his "drop run". The aircraft was observed to fly in a gentle descent towards the designated target area, and at a height of about 40 ft the load release commenced at, or close to, the maximum rate. During the load release the nose of the aircraft pitched up and the aircraft entered a climb. On completion of the load release the aircraft nose continued to pitch up and the climb angle increased.
The aircraft climbed straight ahead for a short distance before commencing to yaw and roll to the left. The bank angle increased to a maximum of about 90 degrees while the nose attitude dropped to almost the horizontal. At a height of about 450 ft and while at very low airspeed, the aircraft rolled inverted and entered the incipient stages of an inverted spin. Recovery to controlled flight was not achieved and the aircraft impacted the ground inverted, in a wings level attitude at a nose-down angle of approximately 45 degrees.
The aircraft caught fire immediately after it struck the ground. The fire was fed by aviation turbine fuel from the ruptured fuel tanks and was quickly brought under control by local fire fighting services which had been on stand-by at the aerodrome. The pilot sustained fatal injuries. Impact forces and the ensuing fire destroyed the aircraft.
Sources:
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1998/aair/aair199800640/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 21-Jan-2008 10:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 17-May-2018 07:37 | Pineapple | Updated [Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 22-Jul-2023 00:55 | Ron Averes | Updated [[Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]] |
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